Despite a devastating blow to its property rights by an appeals court, an Oregon church plans to continue to fight a legal battle they say may set precedent for other churches.

One month after the Oregon Court of Appeals granted title of Hope Presbyterian Church’s 52-year-old building to the Presbyterian Church (USA), the church’s pastor says the Rogue River congregation will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

“[Our attorney] felt that we had a good chance of having our case reviewed by the Oregon State Supreme Court, since the issues at stake haven’t been formally addressed by Oregon and they impact a good number of people across the state,” senior pastor Brian Boisen said, adding that the session voted unanimously to petition the court to review the case.

The state appeals court overturned a lower court decision on April 27 which would have granted ownership of the building to Hope following its split with the PCUSA. As of 2007, the property was valued at $1.2 million.

In its decision, the three-member court stated the 110-year-old church implicitly acknowledged that the denomination held the property in trust when the congregation changed its bylaws to recognize the PCUSA constitution, although the bylaws were never filed with the state.

Hope’s session claimed that the church has been clearly documented as being the owner and giving up their claim could harm other churches as well.

“In the course of that last [session] meeting, what was emphasized the most was the impact that our case would have on all the other congregations considering leaving the PCUSA,” Boisen said. He added the church considered the appeals process a spiritual fight as well as legal, making the decision worth the financial hardship. The appeals process will cost an estimated $10,000 and the church has already spent $18,000.

“Our attorney has been working with us at a reduced rate, and he is willing to continue supporting us at that rate all the way through,” Boisen said.